"A week later, I had to go back to that school, and that was the worst part because you had to walk past that spot where I saw my best friend and pretend it was all normal. It was not normal," Polacheck said in February at the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America rally. "Folks, that's been eight years, and I've been talking about this every single day since then for eight years. Eight years of talking about this, and there's been nothing that's changed."
Kentucky local news networks quoted Polacheck's remarks in their articles regarding the rally. After the falsehoods surfaced on Wednesday, several of the outlets, such as WDKY and Kentucky Lantern, removed the story from their websites, Citizens Voice reported.
The Dallas school district issued a statement on Wednesday refuting Polacheck's allegations, saying, "Thankfully, that never happened."
"The discussion on the clip about Dallas and school violence is not factually accurate. Our district solicitor is supporting an investigation and communication regarding the circulating clip," the statement continued.
Polacheck's comments also garnered the attention of the Dallas Township police chief and the Luzerne County district attorney.
"The widespread sharing of a fabricated tragedy is not only reckless, it is harmful. It fuels unnecessary fear, disrespects the experiences of real victims of school violence, and misleads the public with a narrative that has no basis in truth," said police chief Doug Higgins, who noted that there has never been a shooting at Dallas High School. "The false claims," he continued, "are deeply troubling. They undermine the integrity of our school district, erode public trust, and cause real harm to a community that takes great pride in protecting its residents, especially its children."
Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce has launched an investigation, according to the outlet, to see if Polacheck's comments constitute a crime. "Lying about being a victim is disgraceful and makes light of the immeasurable grief and pain suffered by true survivors and the victims' families," Sanguedolce said.
Polacheck's classmates have also refuted his remarks, with one writing on Facebook: "Apparently I survived a school shooting. Calvin Polacheck is lying about a school shooting, and it's disgusting trying to use this fake story to ban guns."
Sarah Boland Heine, a spokesperson for Everytown for Gun Safety, the parent organization for Moms Demand Action, said that Polacheck is not actively involved with the group. "We are deeply disappointed that someone would exploit the tragic, lived experience of many to use our platform to share a story that was not true," she said in a statement, according to Citizens Voice.
